E-marine launches fifth cable-laying vessel in Dubai

E-marine, the principal provider of submarine cable solutions in the Middle East, officially launched its newest cable-laying vessel in Dubai last Thursday, to support its ambitious expansion plans and boost capacity to maintain vital cable infrastructure in the Middle East and East Africa region.

CS Maram is E-marine’s fifth vessel to be added to its cable laying fleet, which was constructed in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) capital Abu Dhabi and incorporates eco-friendly technology. CS Maram is the most modern,’GreenPlus’ cable ship in the world, ever built.

CS Maram can handle the installation and maintenance of all types of sub-sea cables, including fiber-optic telecommunications cables and energy cables. The fully loaded maintenance and installation vessel is equipped with the latest high-tech remotely operated vehicle (ROV) – QT 400 that will enable the vessel to undertake inspections and surveys of the seabed up to a water depth of 2,500m and cut trenches to bury cables up to 1.5m below the sea-bed. CS Maram is equipped with an advanced Dynamic Positioning-2 system that keeps the ship stable for operation up-to a sea state of Beaufort-7 i.e. high winds up-to 61 km/hr and wave heights up-to 19ft. It hosts 72 people with 5-Star facilities conforming to SPS 2008, a class enjoyed by passenger ships, with a speed of 15 knots.

Speaking on board CS Maram, Omar Jassim Bin Kalban, Managing Director & CEO of E-marine, said: “The launch of CS Maram marks a major milestone in E-marine’s journey and the expansion of our operations in the region. It will strengthen our presence in the high-growth sub-sea cable market, especially as demand rises from the telecoms and energy sectors. This highly technical cable ship will provide our customers with the latest sub-sea cabling technology and demonstrates our commitment to the region. For our customers, more ships means we can reach cable systems faster and across a wider geographic area.”

E-marine currently has three major new projects underway that will deliver the infrastructure for faster broadband connectivity in the UAE and wider region. The first project is a new link providing increased bandwidth availability between South-East Asia-Middle East and Western Europe.

The second project is in the Maldives, connecting the six islands with a total cable length of around 1,200kms. The project will provide high-speed internet across the Maldives islands. E-marine has partnered with Huawei Marine Networks to lay the cable.

The third project is a maintenance contract for the Bay of Bengal Gateway. This project is designed to provide a direct-trunk communication between Oman and Malaysia. It links six countries, with four branches in the UAE, India (Mumbai and Chennai) and Sri Lanka.

Bin Kalban added: “These three project wins are highly significant for E-marine, demonstrating our ongoing commercial success. the installations project are allied with major players like Alcatel Submarine Networks and Huawei Marine Networks, illustrating our caliber in the global submarine cable industry. Through undertaking these projects we will enable a higher level of interconnectivity among countries in the region through an extensive network of submarine cables. This comes as a part of our commitment to enhance the UAE’s position and international competitiveness in the communications and technology sector. The projects also deliver world-class infrastructure that will help in attracting international companies looking to establish their business in the UAE.”

The launch event was attended by representatives from Ali & Sons Marine Engineering, the company responsible for building the vessel, and RINA Services, the international provider of ship classification, certification, and verification, which certified CS Maram’s adherence to international environmental standards and has awarded it a ’Green-Plus’ classification.